An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may include an onboard action camera system whereby a camera captures one or more images from the vantage point of the UAV, which may be streamed in real time or near real time from the UAV to a computing device or communications device via wireless link. These streaming images may provide a unique firsthand perspective of a skier, skateboarder, or other athlete as they progress through a course or routine, if the UAV can be made to track or follow its subject from a consistent perspective relative to the subject, accounting for changes in direction or perspective along with the subject. This may be particularly challenging if a human subject is moving through a crowd of other persons, who may themselves be moving, and some of whom may bear more than a cursory visual resemblance to the subject. It may be desirable for a UAV to track or follow a subject (ex.—target individual) by analyzing captured images on a pixel-by-pixel basis to track the subject's movement through the frame, distinguishing the subject from other persons and background elements and directing the UAV to respond to detected changes in direction or velocity on the part of the subject.